Techniques

As a graphic designer a portfolio is essential. While it's great to have an online one, it's also a good idea to have a physical one too to take along to meetings and interviews.
Putting together and showing this kind of portfolio of your graphic design work is quite a skill, and the best way to do it gets debated constantly by designers around the world. There is no right way of doing it – there will always be differences in what employers or clients expect, or would like to see. Some simple logic and advice will help you though, and I’m going to share what I have learned both from experience and from reading other articles.

As a graphic designer a portfolio is essential. While it's great to have an online one, it's also a good idea to have a physical one too to take along to meetings and interviews.
Putting together and showing this kind of portfolio of your graphic design work is quite a skill, and the best way to do it gets debated constantly by designers around the world. There is no right way of doing it – there will always be differences in what employers or clients expect, or would like to see. Some simple logic and advice will help you though, and I’m going to share what I have learned both from experience and from reading other articles.Read More…

Workshops, presentations, and conferences are excellent places to learn Photoshop. These types of events occur every day, all over the world. We understand that you can’t attend every event, everywhere. That is why each month; we display some of our favorite presentations here for you to enjoy. Today, our friend Martin Perhiniak explains selections in this roughly 90-minute presentation that he did for Academy Class.

Workshops, presentations, and conferences are excellent places to learn Photoshop. These types of events occur every day, all over the world. We understand that you can’t attend every event, everywhere. That is why each month; we display some of our favorite presentations here for you to enjoy. Today, our friend Martin Perhiniak explains selections in this roughly 90-minute presentation that he did for Academy Class.Read More…

In today's feature article, I'm going to show you work from seven talented vector artists. Discover how they approach backgrounds and construct whole scenes. Learn how they turn single elements into the focal point in an overall composition. These are techniques that will take time and work to master, but are well-worth the effort.

In today's feature article, I'm going to show you work from seven talented vector artists. Discover how they approach backgrounds and construct whole scenes. Learn how they turn single elements into the focal point in an overall composition. These are techniques that will take time and work to master, but are well-worth the effort.Read More…

The world of printing and all the techniques and terminology associated with it can be complicated. Often it can take a while to understand and learn these through years of graphic design experience.
This article consists of a list of some of the most common printing terms with a brief explanation of each. To make it easier to understand I have divided the list into three areas: General printing, Bindings, and Finishings.

The world of printing and all the techniques and terminology associated with it can be complicated. Often it can take a while to understand and learn these through years of graphic design experience.
This article consists of a list of some of the most common printing terms with a brief explanation of each. To make it easier to understand I have divided the list into three areas: General printing, Bindings, and Finishings.Read More…

Owning a Wacom tablet and knowing how to use it can be two totally different things. Every now and then we like to bring you speeches or presentations that take place in various places. Today's, presentation with Canadian Illustrator, Patrick LaMontagne took place online and was hosted by Wacom. In this presentation, LaMontagne shows how he uses his Wacom tablet to create some stunning works of art. Let's take a look!

Owning a Wacom tablet and knowing how to use it can be two totally different things. Every now and then we like to bring you speeches or presentations that take place in various places. Today's, presentation with Canadian Illustrator, Patrick LaMontagne took place online and was hosted by Wacom. In this presentation, LaMontagne shows how he uses his Wacom tablet to create some stunning works of art. Let's take a look!Read More…

Skin shading is a large part of creating portrait and people art. In today's article I'm going to show you different styles of skin shading and give you some helpful tips on creating flawless skin in your vector work!

Skin shading is a large part of creating portrait and people art. In today's article I'm going to show you different styles of skin shading and give you some helpful tips on creating flawless skin in your vector work!Read More…

Each month, we try to bring you a design-related presentation or speech from around the web. Today, our friend and Adobe Design Master, Martin Perhiniak led a seminar organized by Academy Class, the leading training company in the UK as part of their Digital Photography Club. In the seminar, Martin demonstrates how to create a movie poster in Photoshop. This video is about an hour and fifteen minutes long. Please take a moment to review Martin’s excellent presentation and if you’d like to learn more from Martin, check out the Photoshop Basix Series he did for Psdtuts or his personal blog Yes I’m a Designer.

Each month, we try to bring you a design-related presentation or speech from around the web. Today, our friend and Adobe Design Master, Martin Perhiniak led a seminar organized by Academy Class, the leading training company in the UK as part of their Digital Photography Club. In the seminar, Martin demonstrates how to create a movie poster in Photoshop. This video is about an hour and fifteen minutes long. Please take a moment to review Martin’s excellent presentation and if you’d like to learn more from Martin, check out the Photoshop Basix Series he did for Psdtuts or his personal blog Yes I’m a Designer.Read More…

If you are a photographer or some one who works with photos quite a bit, chances are you’ve heard of Lightroom. Lightroom is an app that allows you to edit and organize your photos. While it can perform many of the same tasks as Photoshop, it is an independent app designed specifically with photographers in mind.

If you are a photographer or some one who works with photos quite a bit, chances are you’ve heard of Lightroom. Lightroom is an app that allows you to edit and organize your photos. While it can perform many of the same tasks as Photoshop, it is an independent app designed specifically with photographers in mind.Read More…

Adobe's InDesign is considered to be the most advanced multi-page editor software, but we need to take advantage of it's full power to quickly create and deliver professionally formatted documents. In this article, we'll review the nine advanced and special character topics, as well as corresponding shortcut keys, and additional information.

Adobe's InDesign is considered to be the most advanced multi-page editor software, but we need to take advantage of it's full power to quickly create and deliver professionally formatted documents. In this article, we'll review the nine advanced and special character topics, as well as corresponding shortcut keys, and additional information.Read More…

In this tutorial, we'll get our hands dirty as we crack open our computers and take a look at upgrading the memory and video card, two upgrades that can immensely effect the performance of both Mac Pros and Windows machines. We'll learn principles of upgrading, buying, and physically installing hardware, so even if your particular machine is not covered, it's still applicable. This is for beginners and professionals alike and is geared more towards media content creators. This is a great opportunity to take a peek inside the machine you use daily and to find out how to get a lot more performance out of it through these two simple upgrades.

In this tutorial, we'll get our hands dirty as we crack open our computers and take a look at upgrading the memory and video card, two upgrades that can immensely effect the performance of both Mac Pros and Windows machines. We'll learn principles of upgrading, buying, and physically installing hardware, so even if your particular machine is not covered, it's still applicable. This is for beginners and professionals alike and is geared more towards media content creators. This is a great opportunity to take a peek inside the machine you use daily and to find out how to get a lot more performance out of it through these two simple upgrades.Read More…

Choosing the right paper for your printed media can be tricky. Paper tells about the function of the product, it's feeling and quality. Therefore it's a crucial part of the overall experience of your final product. Best of all is to start thinking about the choice of paper even before you start your work on the computer, not only to get the feeling right but also because of printing issues and costs. You can then optimize the production and design according to the paper of your choice. Here are some of the things to keep in mind about the use of paper for your printed media production.

Choosing the right paper for your printed media can be tricky. Paper tells about the function of the product, it's feeling and quality. Therefore it's a crucial part of the overall experience of your final product. Best of all is to start thinking about the choice of paper even before you start your work on the computer, not only to get the feeling right but also because of printing issues and costs. You can then optimize the production and design according to the paper of your choice. Here are some of the things to keep in mind about the use of paper for your printed media production.Read More…